Where the Crawdads Sing is my favorite book so far this year. It's packed with intrigue, mystery, family drama, and romance. Kya's parents and siblings leave the family shack on the marsh one by one and it will tug at your heartstrings for a young girl, left alone. She is mocked by people of the local town who call her "Marsh Girl." But she finds one friend, a black man called Jumpin' who with his wife, help Kya to earn a living by taking the buckets of mussels she has dug from the sand and sell them for her at his dock. Mabel passes on clothes when she notices Kya has quickly outgrown the few she has. A sad part of the story is when Kya touches Jumpin's hand as thanks, both knowing that at that time (1960s) neither should be seen hugging someone from a different race. Amid the story line,
Delia Owens adds beautiful prose and draws the reader into the nature of North Carolina's marsh land. The beginning reminded me a little of the movie
Beasts of the Southern Wild.
As a wildlife scientist,
Delia Owens educates the reader in the birds and critters along North Carolina's coast. She spent summers in the North Carolina mountains where her mother would tell her to explore nature and "Go way out yonder where the crawdads sing."
If you're looking for a book club read, this one would lead to great discussion - download the book club kit
here.
From the cover:
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called "Marsh Girl."
But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be loved. Two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.
